Summary The position is located within Health Administration Service (HAS), Patient Registration Section, and organizationally reports to the Manager Patient Registration. The incumbent works closely with Chief Business Office (CBO), and facility leaders and staff to incorporate new concepts and programs into extant systems and provides education and training to all facility staff impacted by program, role, or technology changes. Responsibilities Duties included, but are not limited to: Develops, refines, implements, and evaluates a comprehensive strategic plan for the PCI programming at the facility. Organizes and facilitates PCI oversight, as well as other committees and task forces as assigned. Provides oversight and expertise to committees, study groups, and project assignments, developing data, forming plans, and preparing recommendation papers that impact on planning for a PCI as a whole. Establishes guiding processes, principles, and policies for the development and implementation of patient and family centric PCI programs at the facility level. Ensures functional linkages across the PCI continuum, with regard to the various PCI/VSECS clinical applications. Advocates for the PCI program needs at the facility and brings matters requiring higher level intervention to the attention of the Chief, HAS. Ensures that the facility PCI programs comply with internal and external Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) accreditation processes. Processes all computer access requests, program requests, account terminations, and hardware requests. Assists Patient Registration supervisors in developing test plans, perform testing, provide results to management, and advise on functionality for new VISTA and CPRS functions. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD024800 and PD02481 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not required. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/31/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-07 position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, you will need: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 1) Solving problems and issues effectively before they have an adverse impact on the organization or employees. 2) Follow applicable laws, regulations, and policy, pertaining to protecting sensitive data. 3) Effectively communicate both verbally in and writing to internal and external customers. 4) Managing various applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Access, etc.. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience (Transcripts Required). To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have at least 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. OR, Combination: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the Program Specialist position, may be substituted to meet the experience requirements for GS-07 position. GS-09 position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, you will need: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 1) Solving problems and issues effectively before they have an adverse impact on the organization or employees. 2) Follow applicable laws, regulations, and policy, pertaining to protecting sensitive data. 3) Effectively communicate both verbally in and writing to internal and external customers. 4) Managing various applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Access, etc. 5) Consults and advises management, provides oversight and expertise to committees, study groups and project assignments. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work OR, Combination: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the Program Specialist position, may be substituted to meet the experience requirements for GS-09 position. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate specialized experience equivalent to GS-07 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-09) and 1 year of successfully completed graduate education (18 semester hours), as is describe above, (50 percent of the education requirement for the GS-09) would qualify for a GS-09 position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Communications and Media Creative Thinking Organizational Awareness Technical Competence Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work can be sedentary, but assignments will regularly involve extended periods of walking, standing, bending and carrying to execute logistics for outreach events. Incumbent is also required to regularly pick up loads of up to 15 pounds such as boxes of outreach and enrollment materials that may be used for outreach activities and/or to push carts of supplies for outreach events. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a VA job announcement includes language requiring applicants to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to Executive Order 14043, that requirement does not currently apply to this Job Announcement. VA may request information regarding your vaccination status, if selected, for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.